


it's not me (it's not my family)

by hedgebitch



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Character Deaths Mentioned In Passing, Future Fic, Gen, Stephanie Brown is Batman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27748483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hedgebitch/pseuds/hedgebitch
Summary: It’s not that Steph’s forgotten Tim’s whole “Batman needs a Robin” shtick. It’s not even that she even disagrees with it. It’s just that—she was never supposed to be Batman.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Damian Wayne
Comments: 7
Kudos: 45





	it's not me (it's not my family)

It’s not that Steph’s forgotten Tim’s whole “Batman needs a Robin” shtick. It’s not even that she even disagrees with it. It’s just that—she was never supposed to be Batman. Hell, it was a game-changer in and of itself finding out there was a world out there where she had enough pull to make it to Batwoman. The big cheese is just out of the question.

But Bruce is gone. Dick is benched indefinitely, or until the surgeons at Gotham General get his ACL reattached, at least. Jason’s out of the game, and even so maybe still homicidal? Steph felt pretty homicidal in grad school, too, so it’s not exactly a stretch to think he might not be the stablest option. Luke sent a video of himself laughing with the caption “fucked up if true” when he saw her SOS.

And Tim—well, Tim’s kind of the issue here. The real reason Batman has to be Steph, has to be someone with a chance of reaching him underneath whatever chemicals or brain bombs made him lose it and start leaving bloody calling cards signed “Jack” in the rebuilt funhouse at Amusement Mile.

There’s no Alfred—she’s putting her medical degree to good use playing her own doctor. So it just makes sense to go it alone. She’ll stop Tim. She’ll save him. And then he’ll take this fucking lead cowl off her hands and save her from the loneliness, or whatever it is Tim did for Bruce, way back when.

That’s her plan, at least, until Damian parks his jet in front of the Batcave’s exit, and stomps straight through a waterfall to stop her from leaving.

“I can’t let you get away with ruining his legacy like this,” he tells her and Steph wants to scream because she gets it, she does, gets that Stephanie Brown isn’t enough, but how the fuck can she be anything more than what she is, how the fuck can he blame her for failing to fill these shoes.

“You want the cowl so bad, you can take it,” she tells him, but Damian makes no such move.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Brown. I was referring to Grayson.”

**Author's Note:**

> title from zombie by the cranberries because i couldn't resist the opportunity for a dceased joke. idk i dig the damian & steph dynamic duo but i also think being batman would just devour damian whole. 
> 
> written for [this prompt](https://barbarawilson.tumblr.com/post/635985947887042560/suggestion-for-one-shot-pick-a-robin-imagine) on tumblr


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